Soil aeration is a conventional technique used by groundskeepers to reduce compaction in the ground soil, stimulate plant growth, and promote proper drainage. Soil may become compacted from overuse or environmental effects, which ultimately affects the soil permeability and development of rooted plants within the soil. In particular, compacted soil restricts the amount of oxygen that can enter the soil and the amount of carbon dioxide that can escape. Not all soils are affected equally by overuse and environmental factors. The amount of compaction depends on soil composition, the amount of vegetation, and the moisture content of the soil. Periodic soil aeration relieves the compaction in the soil before the negative effects overburden the soil to the point that it can no longer support desirable vegetation.
In general, soil aerators penetrate the ground using coring tubes that penetrate the ground and remove “plugs” of soil. Depending on the penetration force of the aeration tubes and the hardness of the ground surface, the aerator frame and wheels may be lifted from the ground surface as the aeration tube impacts and attempts to penetrate the ground. Moreover, when the aeration tubes impact hard objects such as rocks in the soil the shock may be absorbed entirely by the aeration tubes and the drive system, which may cause significant damage or destroy the tubes or drive components.
Conventional coring tube aeration systems can actually worsen the condition of the soil damage to the soil. Coring tubes may substantially compact the soil as the tubes penetrate the soil. Accordingly, the walls of the resulting cylindrical hole may become compressed and compacted, thereby making the hole walls substantially impermeable to air and moisture. Aeration with conventional coring tube aeration systems may thus be counterproductive.
Towable soil aerators typically have two wheels (e.g., a right and a left wheel) and a hitch device to attach the soil aerator frame to a tractor. The two wheels are commonly attached to opposing ends of a crossbar member, which is rigidly connected (e.g., welded) to the remaining portions of the frame. This construction provides a rigid frame that may be pulled behind the tractor as the two wheels roll over the ground surface and the aeration tubes penetrate the soil.
Such a rigid construction, however, poses problems when the wheels encounter uneven soil topography or other surface aberrations. If, for example, a wheel strikes a sizeable bump or rock while the other wheel remains on the flat ground surface, the rigidly constructed frame becomes non-level with the ground surface and the aeration tubes do not uniformly penetrate the soil.